1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic driving devices, and particularly to a driving device for driving discharge lamps of a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel uses discharge lamps, such as cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), as a light source thereof. Typically, an inverter circuit is employed to provide alternating current (AC) signals to drive the CCFLs.
FIG. 5A is a conventional electronic device 50, and FIG. 5B is a side view along direction D of FIG. 5A. The electronic device 50 includes an LCD panel 510 and a driving device. The driving device is used for driving a plurality of discharge lamps 54 disposed in parallel on the LCD panel 510 (shown in FIG. 5B), and includes a controller board 51. The controller board 51 is fixed with a plurality of connectors 522, a balance circuit 52, and a controller circuit 53. The balance circuit 52 includes a plurality of inductors 521 connected to the discharge lamps 54.
The controller circuit 53 is provided for converting a received signal to a high voltage signal that can drive the discharge lamps 54. The balance circuit 52 is connected to the controller circuit 53, for balancing currents flowing through the discharge lamps 54. The controller board 51 is connected to the discharge lamps 54 via the connectors 522.
The driving device converts a direct current (DC) signal output from a circuit (not shown) into an alternating current (AC) signal for driving the discharge lamps 54. This conventional driving device of FIG. 5A is a low-voltage driving device.
Another conventional driving device is similar to the conventional driving device in FIG. 5A, except that the driving device further includes a power factor correction (PFC) circuit. The PFC circuit directly receives a main supply AC signal (e.g. 220V in China, and 110V in America), and converts the AC signal to a DC signal (about 400V) to drive the discharge lamps. The driving device is a high-voltage driving device.
At present, in testing LCD panels during manufacturing, manufacturers must integrate the driving devices with the panels otherwise repeated connection and disconnection of an external driving device may affect the integrity of the panels under test. However, for manufactures specializing in LCD panels, the necessity of including driving devices is cumbersome and expensive in the manufacturing process. What is needed is a way for panel manufactures to test the LCD panel without having to integrate driving devices in the panel and without affecting the quality of the panel with current external driving device test equipment.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.